Zuidas road and rail plan in trouble, minister calls for new investigation

The future of the massive Zuidasdok civil engineering project in Amsterdam appeared uncertain on Tuesday after infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen announced a new investigation into the need to place part of the A10 ring road underground.

The minister told MPs and local officials in a briefing that the €2bn development will be subject to further delays and that she has instigated a new inquiry into the ‘use and necessity’ of the project.

While work will continue on expanding Amsterdam Zuid railway station, ‘more information is needed’ about other parts of the project, the minister said.

The minister said she expects to be able to update MPs on progress in the first quarter of next year.

Delays

The new investigation is the latest delay to hit the project, which was originally slated for completion in 2028.

In May, Van Nieuwenhuizen said the project will be both delayed and more expensive than in the original plans, citing the complexity of the project. In February it emerged that the design phase of the project would take a year longer than planned.

In addition, a number of civil engineering experts have raised doubts about the need to place part of the A10 underground, saying that the city’s plans to ban all but electric cars will make it unnecessary from an environmental point of view.

Others say the money would be better spent on developing a new ring road, further away from the city.

A consortium made up of Dutch construction group Heijmans, Fluor of the US and Hochtief of Germany won the preliminary contract for the €1.4bn project in 2017.